Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow.
Note: Game content reviewed by Melanie Zawodniak based on Playstation 5 version. Switch port technical details written by John Rairdin.
I think I need to establish a baseline right here at the start: Sonic X Shadow Generations is a game made specifically for me. Sonic Adventure 2 was my childhood favorite game, and 2005’s Shadow the Hedgehog released when I was twelve years old—meaning I was old enough to know it was considered a bad game, but young enough that I’ve never actually disliked it. Shadow is one of my favorite video game characters and I could not be happier to see him headlining a brand new game again. Of course, I understand how unhinged I sound. Shadow hasn’t had a starring role in a well-regarded game since his very first appearance, and even then Sonic Adventure 2 has only grown more divisive with age. But despite my obvious bias I think there’s still good reason to give Sonic X Shadow Generations a try since it also happens to be one of the most polished and confident games Sonic has had in decades.
Before we get to Shadow, how does the original Sonic Generations hold up thirteen years later? I’ve long believed that this is the best 3D Sonic game—an opinion that I had reaffirmed by regularly going back to it plenty of times over the years. Sonic Generations is split down the middle between Classic Sonic gameplay that faithfully recreates how Sonic felt back in his Genesis adventures and Modern Sonic gameplay that follows up on the behind-the-back boost-style gameplay that was codified in Sonic Colors. Generations is the game that originally got me interested in speedrunning, and I have fond memories of sitting in my freshman dorm replaying Chemical Plant Zone Act 2 over and over for hours on end grinding out the fastest time I could possibly get. This core gameplay is exactly as good as I remember it, and I was able to immediately fall back on my muscle memory to get something close to my old best time (currently 1 minute and 48 seconds, if you’re curious).
Unfortunately, being forced to play a fresh save file where I needed to first unlock all of those stages has revealed a harsh truth: for as much as I love playing through Generations’ stages, I kind of hate every minute of this game that you’re not doing that. Right off the bat the story is pretty bad. The plot is paper thin with cutscenes that take a long time to say very little—literally, since dialogue is paced awfully with long pauses between lines. The script has been punched up a bit by the longtime writer of Sonic’s popular comic book tie-in, Ian Flynn, but since the cutscenes have not been reanimated at all there was only so much he could do.
In addition to the story, gameplay is also slowed down by underbaked side missions and frustrating boss fights that must be completed in order to progress through the game. I think that Sonic Generations is still a stellar experience for dedicated players who understand the appeal of replaying stages over and over to beat their best times, but anyone looking for a longer and more consistent adventure in this style would probably be better served with either this game’s predecessor Sonic Colors or its edgier cousin that happens to live on the same cartridge.
Shadow Generations is presented as an alternate game mode attached to a remaster of Sonic Generations, but in reality it’s much more than that. It’s immediately clear as soon as the game begins that this is not running the same gameplay engine as Sonic’s half of the package. It’d be more accurate to say that Shadow Generations is a brand new sequel to Sonic Generations with a remaster of the original packed in. As a sequel much of the game’s concept and structure is the same—a mix of behind-the-back and side-scrolling gameplay taking place in recreations of beloved stages from past games—but this is far from a reskin with a few new levels. Shadow brings a collection of new abilities with him to add more depth to what has become a tried-and-true formula for 3D Sonic.
The most obvious change is the addition of Shadow’s Chaos Control which allows him to stop time and teleport between opponents in lieu of a homing attack (do not correct me in the comments, the lore is not consistent on whether Shadow’s teleportation is Chaos Control), but the real spotlight goes to the Doom Powers granted by his connection to the villainous Black Arms. Shadow’s Doom Powers allow him to launch enemies across the map, glide through the air on demonic wings, and even transform into a gooey blob that swings around like Spider-Man. These powers add a lot of variety to the challenges that you’ll face throughout the game, and the glide ability can make such a substantial difference to platforming that each level has separate speedrun rankings for whether it was enabled or not.
In addition to these new abilities, Shadow Generations also greatly improves on Sonic Generations’ weakest aspects. The hub world in between stages has been significantly expanded to be a full gameplay stage in its own right. This part of the game shares a lot of DNA with Sonic Frontiers, and Sonic Team has managed to sand down that game’s rough edges. Frontiers’ reliance on button mashing combat has been significantly reduced, and the more grounded architecture placed around a smaller map makes traversal more intuitive where it’s always clear exactly where a grind rail is going to lead. Frontiers’ world could be a chore to traverse, but I keep going back to Shadow’s overworld to complete platforming challenges and find hidden collectibles all over.
The story—this time penned from the ground up by Ian Flynn—is substantially better than Sonic’s side, diving into Shadow’s past with Maria and Gerald Robotnik as well as his origins with the evil Black Doom. Your mileage will probably vary here depending on how interested you already are in Shadow; if you think Shadow is as cool as I’ve always known he is then this very well may be the best story that a Sonic game has ever told. If you’re normal and see Shadow for the underdeveloped edgelord he is then it probably won’t mean as much to you, but the confidence evident in the story’s production values is undeniably a big step up from pretty much any past 3D Sonic game.
Ultimately the biggest thing holding Shadow Generations back is the way it’s been pigeonholed into the structural trappings of Sonic Generations. Every Shadow stage is also split between a modern and “classic” act, and while the classic-style stages aren’t bad I don’t think Sonic Team has really figured out how to make use of Shadow’s strengths in strictly 2D level design. The mandatory side missions also continue to be pace breakers, but on the bright side they’re much better this time around by way of getting more focused development resources. Instead of 60 mediocre challenges that you do any three of to unlock a boss there are now ten challenges that you play all of. Neither the classic-style stages or the mandatory missions are ideal, but they are a huge step up from the lowest points of Sonic’s side of the adventure.
The Switch port itself is reasonable if not outstanding. Essentially we’re looking at two entirely independent games here, and each port has been handled differently. Sonic Generations fairs quite well in image quality but has some odd quirks around performance. Here we see a full 1080p docked resolution and 720p handheld. Neither of these show any signs of being dynamic so even in the most visually dense stages you are locked to the Switch’s highest supported resolution. There is no anti-aliasing to speak of but given the general speed of the game you really only notice in the rare moments where the action comes to a stop, or during cutscenes. The biggest issue for Sonic Generations is an issue with the 30 frames-per-second frame rate cap. Obviously after Sonic Superstars, it would have been nice to keep 60fps on Switch but alas we’re back down to 30. That itself wouldn’t be so bad but unfortunately there is a frame pacing instability issue. It’s relatively minor but it’s definitely there, causing movement to feel like it is uneven, despite a full 30fps being delivered.
Over on Shadow Generations, no such issue exists and the 30fps cap is maintained. Here that cap itself also feels more reasonable given the significantly higher demands of Shadow Generations versus the original game. It seems like Shadow is making use of some of the same underlying tech as Sonic Frontiers. It is a much more modern game in comparison to Sonic Generations with full support for ambient occlusion, screen space reflections, and more open 3D exploration. It is a more visually demanding package than its predecessor. For Switch however that does mean that more compromises are needed. Resolution is now dynamic, adjusting based on the scene. Resolutions are generally at their lowest in the large open hub world. When playing docked you’ll see the resolution range from 720p down to 540p depending on whats on screen. Meanwhile handheld mode, while also capable of maxing out at 720p in extremely simple situations, can drop all the way to 360p. Both of these are treated with something like FSR 2.0 which cleans up some of the edges but at lower resolutions aliasing is still quite obvious.
I found both experiences perfectly playable and within the expectation of what we’ve seen from Sonic thus far on the platform. I would hope that a patch could correct the frame pacing on Sonic Generations. Were that to happen I’d really have no complaints about that port. And once again the compromises for Shadow Generations are much more understandable given the content in question. Some of the level transitions and visual tricks Shadow Generations pulls off seamlessly on Switch are pretty impressive to behold, with entire levels swapping out with different ones right before your eyes.
It’s difficult for me to come up with a conclusion for Sonic X Shadow Generations as a package given how different an experience each half the game is from the other. As a remaster Sonic Generations is a rough reminder of just how uneven the original game could be. The game’s best moments make it my favorite game in the franchise while its worst moments make it difficult to recommend to all but Sonic’s most dedicated fans. Meanwhile Shadow Generations is a fantastic step forward for the Sonic franchise, taking the blueprints of its predecessors to the next level with a clear focus on being the most polished experience Sonic’s name has been on for the better part of a decade.
Whether or not the combined offering of Sonic Generations and Shadow Generations is worth it will depend heavily on what your expectations for each half of the game are. For my part, I see this as a brand new game starring Shadow the Hedgehog with a remaster of an old game packed in, and by that metric I think it is a stellar package. Sonic X Shadow Generations may spend a lot of time looking at the franchise’s past, but it represents the best I’ve felt about its future in a very long time.